Shooting at a birthday party in northern Kentucky leaves 4 people dead, 3 wounded
![Yellow police tape is seen around the perimeter of a home where a shooting took place on Saturday in Florence, Ky. Police say several people were killed and others wounded in an early morning shooting during a party at this home in northern Kentucky. Police say the shooting suspect later died after fleeing the home and leading police on a vehicle pursuit that ended with the suspect's car falling into a ditch. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4959x3306+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F10%2F53132b3948c2b7050cff73cff358%2Fap24188718436498.jpg)
Yellow police tape is seen around the perimeter of a home where a shooting took place on Saturday in Florence, Ky. Carolyn Kaster/AP hide caption
Four people were killed and three others were wounded by gunfire inside a house in northern Kentucky early Saturday morning, according to local police.
The 21-year-old suspect died from a self-inflicted wound after fleeing the scene.
The Florence Police Department said officers were dispatched at 2:51 a.m. to a birthday party inside a private residence in Florence, a city outside Cincinnati.
Officers found four people dead at the scene — Melissa Parrett, 44; Shane Miller, 20; Hayden Rybicki, 20; and Delaney Eary, 19. Parrett had organized the birthday party for her 21-year-old son.
The suspect, identified as Chase Garvey, was not invited and had shown up to the celebration, police Chief Jeff Mallery said in a press conference.
Three other gunshot victims were taken to a local hospital, where they "appear stable" and able to make a full recovery, Mallery added.
Mallery added that officers were able to locate Garvey with the help of "partygoers" at the scene, who gave a description of Garvey and his vehicle.
![Chase Garvey, shown above, was previously charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 2021.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1244x1306+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbd%2Ffc%2Fd30e8b11413cb71b320df30012b6%2Fscreenshot-2024-07-06-at-1-36-26-pm.png)
The suspect, identified as Chase Garvey, was not invited and had shown up to the birthday party, Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery said.
/Florence Police Department
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/Florence Police Department
"We never dealt with this before," Mallery said. "This is the first time we had a mass shooting in Florence, so yeah it's very emotional."
Officers later found Garvey driving on the road, near U.S. Route 42. Garvey and the officers were involved in a car chase before he veered off the road and crashed into a ditch.
There, officers discovered that Garvey had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said. Law enforcement officials said they believe he acted alone.